BYU rugby releases 2014 schedule

PROVO — Today the BYU men’s rugby team released its 2014 schedule, and there is a lot to like.

First off, there is the Las Vegas Invitational from Jan. 23-25 that runs concurrent with IRB’s Seven’s World Series.

Then there’s the first annual West Coast Cup which feature a home-and-away series with St. Mary’s.

The Cougars also mix local battles (Utah Valley, Utah State and the glorious return if the Wasatch Cup with Utah on April 4) while bringing in top-class clubs (Glendale Raptors and San Francisco Golden Gate) to Provo on March 1 and 29.

To top it all off, the Varsity Cup starts on April 19 at Navy with both the semifinal (Provo) and championship (Sandy) being played in Utah.

“One of our goals as a program here at BYU is to provide an environment where our student athletes are challenged to develop into good rugby players,” said BYU head coach David Smyth in a Friday news release. “I firmly believe that this schedule offers that opportunity for development. Our regular season competition, will be very demanding and will help us improve and mature as we lead up to the Varsity Cup National Championship.

“All in all, the variety of teams and competition will test us on a number of different levels and hopefully get us ready for the ultimate goal of defending a national title.”